FOOTBALL | Reardon, Hillsdale cruise by Mapleton

By WILLIAM KOSILESKIStaff Writer

Friday

Aug 30, 2019 at 5:23 PMAug 30, 2019 at 11:27 PM

JEROMESVILLE — Although the Hillsdale High School football team has three starting running backs in Briar Funk, Ty Williams and Brandon Reardon, it was Reardon who stood out among the others in the Falcons’ season-opener against Mapleton on Friday night.

The junior ran for a game-high 137 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries to lead Hillsdale to a 31-7 non-league victory over the visiting Mounties at Hillsdale Community Stadium.

"I started coaching (Reardon) when he was in eighth grade, and each year he just keeps getting better," Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline said. "He keeps getting faster and he had a good year at the (junior varsity) level last year and he came in tonight and ran the ball very well."

Reardon’s big night was highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown run at the 4:16 mark of the second quarter, where he eluded a couple would-be tacklers before breaking into the open field.

"I wasn’t really expecting a touchdown, you really aren’t for any play," Reardon said. "After I got the ball and broke through the line, I saw the opening. While I was running, I saw a guy coming at me, but I just knew I needed to keep running. I thought for sure I was going to get tackled, but he fell off and I took it in."

Hillsdale junior quarterback Caden Mutchler and senior wide receiver Colt Bishop connected on long scoring plays on two occasions, one being a 66-yard touchdown to end the first and the other being a 58-yard score early in the second half.

Hillsdale’s other touchdown on the evening came on a 9-yard touchdown run from Funk with 8:21 remaining in the second quarter.

Mapleton’s only score of the contest came late in the fourth quarter after senior Travis DuBois recovered a Hillsdale fumble and returned it 12 yards for the score.

The game was the first in the head-coaching career of Mapleton coach Ray Leek. The Mounties’ new head coach said the Mounties were never able to get into a groove offensively, resulting in only five first downs for the game.

"(Hillsdale) was mixing it up up front, and we never got into a flow offensively," Leek said. "We’ve got to be able to establish our run game. Offensively, the biggest thing for us is for our front five to go out and dominate the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t do that tonight."

With the victory, Hillsdale has defeated Mapleton 13 consecutive times dating back to the 2002 season.

TURNING POINT

After Hillsdale failed to score on its first two drives and Mapleton didn’t score in its opening attempt, the Mounties were in position to break a scoreless tie in the first quarter.

The Mounties drove down to the Hillsdale 24, but the Falcons’ defense forced them back to the 31 before Mapleton failed to convert on fourth down.

On Hillsdale’s ensuing drive, Mutchler hit Bishop for the aforementioned 66-yard touchdown, and the Falcons never looked back from there.

"Bishop really did a nice job beating his guy, and Caden threw a very nice pass out to him," Cline said. "Caden let him go get it, and it turned into a huge play. The line had great pass protection, too, on that play."

QUOTABLE

"Defensively, we’ve talked to these guys the whole preseason about make sure you’re just doing your assignments each and every play, and they were doing that tonight. Obviously, you can tell that they were making it tough for Mapleton — Cline, on Hillsdale’s defense, which held the Mounties to 76 yards of total offense.

"I just told them that they have to play whistle to whistle for 48 minutes. There were some things we did good, and some things we got to get cleaned up. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We have to look ahead and get ready for next week." – Leek, on what he told the team in the postgame huddle.

BY THE NUMBERS

Mutchler went 7 of 14 on the night and threw for a game-high 162 yards to go along with his two touchdowns, while Funk rushed for 16 yards on three carries and made four catches for 31 yards. Williams rushed for 27 yards on 13 carries and also hauled in a two-point conversion from Mutchler following Reardon’s scoring run.

Mapleton senior quarterback Gage Scurlock only completed 4 of 22 passes for 22 yards but led the Mounties in rushing with 41 yards (16 carries).

FINAL WORD

Although it is still early, Hillsdale’s quest for a Wayne County Athletic League title and a playoff berth started off on the right foot on Friday night.

The Falcons will look to build off this victory when it takes on another Firelands Conference team in Crestview on Friday on the road.

Mapleton will look to bounce back when it visits Wellington next week.

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